


Communication Breakdown

by jwriter819



Series: Look What We've Become [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Bullies, Co-Parents, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Uncle James "Rhodey" Rhodes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 18:23:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18036509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jwriter819/pseuds/jwriter819
Summary: Peter was having the worst day ever.Worst. Day. EVER!After being out for a week due to a “fever” he’d finally returned to see that there was a science project due in three days.Typically that wouldn’t have been a big deal.The problem was it was a group project and they’d all been in groups before Peter came back. That meant the other two students who were out sick earlier in the week were also in need of a group.Flash Thompson and Jake Moran.Best friends.Peter tormentors.When Peter makes a terrible decision, will this change his impending adoption?----An unusual twist to the Field trip trope with a focus on IronDad and Spiderson.





	Communication Breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to the "Parker-Stark Family Rules". It takes place a couple of months after Peter's fifteenth birthday. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcomed!

Peter was having the worst day ever. 

Worst. Day. EVER! 

After being out for a week due to a “fever” he’d finally returned to see that there was a science project due in three days. 

Typically that wouldn’t have been a big deal. 

The problem was it was a group project and they’d all been in groups before Peter came back. That meant the other two students who were out sick earlier in the week were also in need of a group. 

Flash Thompson and Jake Moran. 

Best friends.

Peter tormentors. 

At the sneers that greeted him upon the announcement, Peter let his head drop onto the lab table.

“Mr. Parker, Mr. Thompson, and Mr. Moran, please see me on your way out,” Ms. McGee said. Grabbing his bag he slid his custom Stark laptop inside before moving towards the teacher. Flash and Jake were already there with big smiles on their faces. Peter wanted to sink into the floor. “Now, I understand that you were all sick last week, but be that as it may you won’t be getting an extension on this assignment. I suggest you use your study period as much as you can this week. Presentations start on Monday.” The boys nodded as they left the room. 

Peter heard them as he tried to flee as quickly as possible only to realize that it was his lunch period. He debated on whether or not he should go inside and eat or head to the library. It was a second too long it seemed as he felt a buzzing sensation travel rapidly up his spine. Mere seconds later he found himself flush against the lockers with his ears ringing as his head lolled forward from the impact. 

“So Parker looks like we’re gonna be spending a lot of time with each other,” Flash smiled.

“Guess that means you’ll have to miss your ‘internship’, huh?” Jake and Flash laughed.

“Let me go,” Peter said grinding his teeth. 

“Oh, now you want to talk? What about earlier when you spit out those right answers on the pop quiz? You screwed the curve up for everyone.” Flash shook his head as Jake slammed Peter against the lockers again. 

“Parker’s always messing things up for us, huh?” Peter’s mind was screaming. This was bad. They were planning something. 

“We see that fancy car that’s always picking you up. Sweet ride. I think me and Jake should come with you to that so-called internship.” 

“Oh yeah! I bet they have the most amazing labs there. If it’s real,” Jake added. There were a million reasons why that wouldn’t be ok. 

Happy Hogan was the biggest.

“You can’t,” Peter pushed out.

“Oh, we can. My dad called them yesterday when I got my assignments. They said that interns have a special lab they work in. We can do our project there,” Flash smirked. 

“I think that’s an excellent plan,” Jake said smugly.

“Look, it’s two against one, so it’s settled.” 

“No, it’s not.” For Peter’s efforts, he found Jake’s forearm pressing under his chin causing his head to go flush into the lockers. 

“Sorry, what’d you say?” Peter heard footsteps and it seemed that Flash and Jake did too, because they stepped back and ran, but not before they could call out, “see you after school, Parker.” 

Rubbing the back of his head, Peter groaned. How was he going to get out of this one?

_______________

The rest of the day passed like a blur for Peter. He was trying to think of any way he could get out of this. 

Normally he’d ask Ned, but Ned was down with whatever Flash, Jake, and the rest of the sophomores seemed to be getting. 

Peter was on his own. 

As soon as the final bell rang Peter sprinted out the back door and hoped that Happy was on time. He sighed with relief when he saw the black town car. He sprinted towards the vehicle quicker than he should have, but he didn’t care. 

“Whoa, kid! I know I’m good looking, but wow. Didn’t realize you’d be this happy to see me.”

“I’m always happy to see you Happy,” Peter smirked. 

“I hate you kid,” Peter smirked. “You and Tony are so much alike.” The partition went up as Peter smiled to himself. As he turned to his right, Peter saw Flash and Jake giving the car dirty looks and let sighed with relief. 

Maybe the day wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

_______________

Peter had been working on his webshooters for almost two hours when he heard Friday’s voice. 

“Peter, it appears you have two visitors requesting your presence in the lobby.”

“Who is it Fri?”

“A Eugene Thompson, an Arnold Thompson, and a Jacob Moran.” Peter groaned. 

“What do they want?” 

“It appears they are discussing a project for science class.” 

“Why me?”

“It’s because you’re in their sophomore class at Midtown High School for Science and Technology.” Peter rolled his eyes.

“You’d think Tony would teach you sarcasm,” Peter grumbled. 

“Peter, it appears that they are growing restless.” 

“I don’t know what to do Fri. Any suggestions?”

“I alerted Miss Potts of the disturbance she is on her way down now. Maybe you should join her?” Sliding himself back from the desk Peter nodded. 

The elevator ride was daunting, far more than Peter ever thought one could be. Sweat pooled into his palms as he reached the bottom floor. Before the doors opened he already heard the incensed voice of Mr. Thompson. 

“So you hire irresponsible teens?” 

“Before you jump to conclusions let’s hear Peter’s side of it.” Peter trudged woefully to the group of people trying not to hang his head. Flash and Jake were wearing their letter jackets even though Peter was pretty sure Decathlon didn’t count. Pepper was in a blue pinstripe skirt suit looking stunning as always. Mr. Thompson was clad in a suite that could have rivaled Tony’s. This whole thing was so bizarre. Pepper laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

“Hi Miss Potts,” he said quietly. 

“Hi, Peter. It seems we have a mixup here. Mr. Thompson says that you ditched his son and this other student today.”

“Left them high and dry,” Mr. Thompson added. Pepper didn’t take her blue orbs off Peter. 

“What’s your side?”

“I uh,” he took a deep breath. “Well, they wanted to work on the project here, but I can’t.” Pepper nodded with understanding. 

“Do you need time off?” 

“No, uh I have that big project Mr. Stark asked me for that’s due this week,” Peter said hoping Pepper understood. He and Tony had been working on upgrades to his webshooters to add more suspension and accuracy. After slamming into that wall on Saturday and breaking several ribs, Tony had strongly suggested that Peter not patrol until they could fix the issue. 

Which everyone knew meant no patrolling until they had a proven resolution.

After being laid up for almost a week, Peter wanted a fix and he wanted it yesterday. 

“Peter, that can wait. I’m sure Tony and your aunt would agree.” Peter fought not to roll his eyes. “So, you can work with them at school for the rest of the week. I’ll let Tony know that you’re taking a couple of days off.”

“Miss Potts, that’s really unnecessary,” Peter said. 

“Peter,” she said sternly. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter saw Flash and Jake grinning widely. Before Peter could respond, Mr. Thompson cut into the conversation.

“It appears they need some supplies for the project that the boys already discussed. Eugene says that you have everything here.”

Pepper turned towards Peter. “Is that true?”

The teen shook his head. “We hadn’t discussed anything that I know of.”

Jake took a step forward reminding Peter that he towered over him. “Yeah, we did Parker earlier don’t you remember?” Peter didn’t miss the insinuation. 

“Yeah, how could I have forgotten,” he responded dryly. Pepper pulled Peter away from the group and leaned down to look in his eyes.

“You really don’t want them here do you?” 

“No.” Pepper sighed. 

“Do they mess with you?” Peter didn’t respond. “I wished you had come to me before they came here making a scene. Especially if you don’t want Tony to know about this.” 

“I wanted to handle it myself.”

“That’s great, but remember that we’re a team. I know I’m getting to the party late, but you have to let us help with the big stuff, ok?” 

“Ok.” 

“We’ll let you guys do the project here, just make sure you wrap everything up tonight. I really don’t want them back here. Besides Tony's away with Rhodes right now, so you might be able to keep this quiet for a little while longer.” Peter sighed with relief. 

“Where are we going to work?”

“There’s an empty lab on one of the bottom floors, you can work there,” Pepper said glancing back in the direction of the trio. Peter nodded as he felt the last of the weight falling off of him.

“You’re secret’s safe with me,” she said winking. 

_______________

That’s how Peter found himself sitting in Stark tower with Flash and Jake. He was busy running as many of the experiments as possible, while the other two stared in awe of all of the equipment. 

They were literally touching everything and they hadn’t shut up since Pepper one of the R&D interns escort them to the room.

“So Parker, you see this every day?” Flash didn’t stop moving as he threw the question out. 

“No, I don’t work down here.” 

Flash raised a challenging eyebrow. “You work somewhere else?” 

“The sanitation department probably,” Jake said snorting. 

“I work with Mr. Stark personally,” Peter ground out as he dropped the chemical into the beaker. 

Flash and Jake stopped and stared before shaking their heads. “You’re full of it, Parker. You’ve never even seen Tony Stark,” Flash said.

“Right Flash and Pepper Potts knows my name for no reason.” Instantly, they move closer to him.

“Prove it,” Flash said.

“No. Let me finish this so you can go,” Peter said moving to check the other beaker on the table across from him. Jake stood in his way. 

“Prove it, or we tell Ms. McGee that you ditched us.” Flash appeared next to them.

“And it would be so sad if these spilled and who knows we may have to come back tomorrow.” Peter bit his lip weighing his options. 

“Fine,” he said finally. “You can’t touch anything though.” Jake and Flash smiled widely at each other. 

They followed him into the elevator. “To Mr. Stark’s lab Fri.”

“Peter, I do not believe Boss would appreciate this.”

“Just do it!” The elevator lifted as Flash smirked at Peter. “What?”

“You just mouthed off to Tony Stark’s AI. Pretty ballsy.” Peter rolled his eyes. In moments they were on the floor to see the lab, but the door hung instead of opening fully. 

“Fri, what’s going on?”

“I wanted to give you a moment to see the error of your ways,” the AI responded.

“Override,” Peter said. The doors slid open. Jake and Flash’s jaws hit the ground. “That’s it, you’ve seen it now we can go.” 

“Are you crazy Parker? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Jake said. 

Flash quickly followed up with, “We’re not going anywhere.” 

Jake ran towards one of the repulsors and reached for it. “You can’t touch that!” Jake laughed at him. It was one of those laughs that screamed how much they think you’re pathetic. Peter felt a ball of hopelessness rising in his gut. 

“Why not? If a pansy like you can be trusted around all this firepower, it can’t be that dangerous.” What Jake didn’t know was that Friday blared an alarm as soon as the repulsor was touched. 

All three boys covered their ears. Peter curled up in pain. “Friday off!” 

Flash instantly turned to yell at Peter. “What was that Parker?” 

“What’s going on in here?” Peter turned to see Rhodey walk through the doors. He groaned. 

“It’s War Machine,” Jake said in awe. 

“This is crazy,” Flash stammered. Both of them stood frozen in place mouths open. There was no bravado here. 

“It’s Iron Patriot, kid.” Rhodey’s eyes traveled across the room and then landed on Peter. “Really?”

“I uh,” Peter stammered out. “Please don’t tell Mr. Stark.”

“You’re in his lab, kid. He knew you were here from the moment you and the bozos walked in.” Rhodey shook his head. “When you make a mistake you go all in kid.” Rhodey snickered to himself. “I think you two should leave.” 

“No, let them stay,” Tony said walking in. Peter wanted to throw up. Rhodey moved from in front of Peter and positioned himself on the couch as if he were watching a show. 

Peter wanted to shoot him a look, but the red-faced Iron Man in front of him made him lose his train of thought. 

“So, Pete want to tell me what’s going on here?” 

“Uh we were doing a project,” Peter said voice cracking with stress. 

“Oh, really.”

“Yeah, Mr. Stark Peter was just showing us your awesome lab,” Flash said finally able to unglue his tongue from the roof of his mouth. 

“Is that so? And why would he do that?” The edge in Tony’s voice let Peter know that Tony probably knew everything that happened today. 

“We uh, well he said he worked with you and he wanted to show us what he does,” Flash said. Tony clicked his tongue to the back of his teeth. 

“So I’m over you two and this,” he said gesturing his hand in front of him. “Here’s the deal. Pep had your parents and yourselves sign Non-Disclosures before you stepped one foot beyond reception. That means you can’t tell anybody at all about today. If I hear one word of anything that you saw here in print, on video or anywhere else, you’ll be tied up in a lawsuit until your children are having children. Got it?” 

Jake stepped forward in all of his stupid glory. “What if we don’t?” Tony huffed out a sarcastic smile. He looked behind him at Rhodey who also wore a grin. 

“I thought you went to school for geniuses? Kid you want to go to a university, right?”

“Of course.”

“How do you think that will go when I send everyone of them a video of you harassing my intern?” Jake’s smile fell. 

“W-what? You can’t do that.” Tony leaned in and gave a dangerous smile. 

“Try me.” 

"He can't be your intern," Flash interjected. "There's no way. This kid is literally a nobody and you give him access to your lab unsupervised. It makes no sense." Tony rolled his eyes. 

"Wow, you're a brilliant scientist," he said sarcastically. "You're right, but guess what you're never gonna find out why." Tony turned around. “Rhodey, can you escort these poor excuses for bullies out of my building?” 

“Poor excuses is right. They’re like those two pricks from Weird Science.” Tony turned to look at Rhodey.

“Touche. Oh and don’t hurry back Rhodes.” Turning his head back to Peter he shot the boy a glare. “I need to talk to my intern.” 

Peter felt his legs almost buckle at the intense glare. He didn’t even hear them leave as he tried to avert his eyes from Tony’s gaze. Peter was trying to find words that could explain his actions, but he couldn't.

The tense silence consumed them. Peter’s heart was beating in his chest. This felt even worse than the whole ferry fiasco. For Peter, it felt like an eternity before Tony finally unleashed on him.

“What in the hell was that?” Peter gulped. 

“I uh,” the teen stammered. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, you’re sorry?” Tony seemed to let his full rage out and started to turn red. He took a step towards Peter which cause the teen to stumble and step backward. “I give you access to a multimillion dollar lab and you let this happen?” Peter opened his mouth, but Tony shook his head. Peter couldn’t hold it any longer, he dropped his head in shame. “Nope. Don’t want to hear it. Kid I’m so mad at you right now, I don’t know what to do.” He shook his head. “Do you want me to go to jail?” Peter’s head snapped up.

“What? No!” 

“Really? I can’t tell. I signed the Accords, remember? No unauthorized users are to have access to my intel or my equipment. Your little field trip could have cost me a trip to the Raft.” All the color drained from Peter’s face. “Didn’t think about that, did you?” Tony snickered to himself. “Betrayed by my own kid.” 

“Tones, the kid didn’t mean any harm,” Rhodey said. Tony turned to look at him. As if to ignore Peter completely. Peter wasn’t even sure when the man had returned. “He’s really a good kid.”

“Is that what Ross is gonna say? Is that what I’m supposed to tell him when him and five guards come with handcuffs?” 

“He’s just a kid. He didn’t know any better.” 

“A kid who I can no longer trust.” Tony glanced up at the ceiling. “Friday, cancel Mr. Parker’s lab privileges.”

“For how long boss?” Tony turned around to look at Peter. 

“Forever.” Peter gasped. He and Tony spent hours in there.

“No, please, anything but that. You can take my suit, and my phone, my clothes, please anything but that.” Peter grabbed Tony’s hand. “Please?” Tony didn’t glance at the boy.

“And disable Karen in Mr. Parker’s cellphone.” He turned back towards Peter. “Want to keep going?” Feeling the tears in the back of his eyes, the teen shook his head. He dropped Tony’s hand and stepped backward. “Good.” Rhodey pleaded Peter’s case in hushed tones while Peter stood there in shock. 

Sure he and Tony spent plenty of time together, but nothing else they did could compare to the lab. It’s so rare to find someone that could challenge him. He wrapped his arms around his midsection trying to restrain himself from breaking down. 

“He’s a kid, Tony. A kid. You did much worse to your old man.” Tony shook his head. 

“I never understood why he’d go so angry when I came into his lab. Now, I do.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do.” Tony turned toward Peter and shook his head. “You should head upstairs.” Peter nodded feeling tears in his eyes. He quickly left the room and wiped his eyes. God, that was intense. 

Friday silently took him up to the penthouse. He knew she was judging him. It was such a dumb idea. 

It really was. 

What was worse is that he really couldn’t explain why he’d done it. He’d been bullied for days and failing a test? That wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen. 

He’d screwed everything up again. 

As he walked into his room he opened the drawers and started to pull out his clothes. He figured that Tony would send him the rest eventually. Trying to contain himself, he gently put them inside of the designer sports bag Tony had given him months ago. 

He wondered what Tony would ask that he return? Peter figured he could keep his cellphone and laptop. Tony had made those for him.

He left the video games and closet of clothes and shoes. Wiping his eyes he put Tony’s MIT sweatshirt in his duffle bag. He knew that Tony would miss it, but he hoped he wouldn't come to Queens just to get it. 

Peter knew he was cursed. He’d already lost his parents, then Ben, and now Tony. 

Maybe he just wasn’t meant to have a family. 

He sighed as he pulled the door to his one-time room closed. Peter stepped into the elevator quickly. 

“Second floor, Fri.”

“That’s a lab floor, Peter. I cannot grant you that request.”

“My backpack is in there. I just need to grab it and leave. I won’t touch anything.”

“Boss has removed all access for the lab.”

“Just do it!” 

“I’m sorry Peter, I cannot.” That was the last straw for Peter. He slid to the floor in a hiccuping mess. He’d ruined everything! 

Peter was crying so hard that he didn’t even feel the elevator climb back to the penthouse. 

“Kid, what are you doing in there?” The words sounded garbled to Peter was he cried. “If you’re running away because you’re grounded like that’s so cliche,” he said as he walked towards the elevator. Tony’s eyes softened as he looked down at the crying teen. “It’s not that bad, Pete.” 

Peter shook his head seeming to only register that his no longer adoptive father was speaking to him. 

“I ruined it!” Tony knelt down in front of the boy. 

“What? That sounded like sweatshirt. I have no idea what you said.”

“I ruined it,” he said barely able to speak. Tony sighed before turning to sit next to the boy in the elevator. 

“You and May wanted to adopt me and now you don’t. You’re gonna tell her and she’ll probably give up on me too.” Peter expected Tony to say something, but he didn’t. All he felt was a hand on his back pulling him towards a warm chest. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it! I don’t want you to go to jail or get in trouble! I didn’t know! Please understand that I didn’t know!” Tony started to gently rock.

“Ssh buddy, just breathe.” Peter’s sobs sounded guttural and pained. Tony was holding back his own tears as he tried to reassure the boy with repeated murmurs in his ear. He seemed like hours before Peter was able to pull away from Tony, but it was about fifteen minutes. 

The boy wiped his face and slid out of Tony’s grasp. He kept his head low. 

This was all so embarrassing. 

Peter took a deep breath. 

“Thanks for uh this, but I’m gonna go now.” Tony raised his eyebrow.

“Go where?”

“Home.”

“You are home.” Peter shook his head. 

“Not funny,” he said standing up. Tony stood up to match him but grimaced as his bones popped. 

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Peter shook his head. “I’m a genius, not a mind reader. You gotta help me out.”

“I get it. You took my lab privileges away and you don’t want me around anymore. It’s fine. I knew it was too good to be true when you said you wanted to adopt me. I’m just a dumb nobody from Queens. This was bound to happen. So just let me go home. I can um get a taxi. Happy doesn’t have to come or anything.” Peter watched Tony in silence. The man had his head cocked to the side before chewing on his inner lip. Peter blew out a rough breath. This day had been exhausting. 

“I think what we have here is a breakdown in communication between geniuses.” Peter rolled his eyes. 

“I said I was sorry.” 

“You did.”

“So, why won’t you let me leave?” Tony rolled his eyes. 

“Because my dad let me leave after blowups more times than I could count.” Peter’s gaze bored into the man. “Hell sometimes I knew he wanted me to leave. I don’t want us to have that relationship, Pete.” Peter felt a twinge in his heart. “You know how many times he came after me when I ran away?” Peter shook his head. “Never.” Tony let out a breath. “A couple of years ago, decades after he died he told me in some old video from when I was like five about how I was his greatest creation.” The man scoffed. “I never felt like that. All I ever felt was that I was a nuisance and a stain on his reputation. I never want you to tell your children that’s how I treated you.” Tony pulled him in for a bone crushing hug. Peter returned it through his tears.

“I’m sorry, Tony.”

“I know, bud.” Tony pulled away from the hug and wiped Peter’s tears with the pads of his thumbs. “I didn’t have a hand in creating you Pete, but you truly are the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. 

Peter felt tears rising to his eyes again, but this time they were different. He wrapped his arms around Tony again. 

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Tony blew out a breath. “Do me a favor, huh? If you ever feel like I shut you down, tell Friday. She’ll get me for you. Don’t leave like that.” 

“I thought you wanted me to.” Peter shrunk in on himself. "It was like Homecoming. You know when you took my suit." Tony sighed and laid his hand on the boy's shoulder. 

“I sent you to your room, Pete.”

“You said ‘go upstairs’ I thought you meant I had to go. Like you wanted to me leave.” 

“Boy that teenage brain is something.”

“Yeah,” the boy said sullenly. Tell him about it.

“Peter, listen to me ok? I suck at this emotional talks. I’m here for you no matter what. I uh,” he blew out a breath. “When May asked me to be listed as your second parent when she adopted you I was blown away. I’ve got a list of issues a mile long and yet here she was telling me that I did enough right that she’d not only let me see you but actually help raise you. She was literally asking if I wanted to be your father. I cried. I never thought I’d ever have kids until I met you. So don’t ever think I’m sending you away or out of my life. I’d move heaven and earth before I ever let anyone take you from me.” He smirked. “Got it?” 

“Yeah, I do.” The father and son shared a smile. 

“Good, let’s grab this bag here and get you up to your room. I’m sure you’ve got homework.” Peter nodded then snapped his fingers. 

“Oh, I uh left my backpack in the lab downstairs. Can you go get it?” Tony looked at him. “Please? It has my laptop in it.” Tony didn’t miss a beat. 

“Nope.”

“But, how am I gonna do my homework?” 

“Use a pen, kid. You do the crime, you can do the time.”

“Ew.”

“Too dad like?”

“Like sandals with socks dad like.” Tony smiled. 

“I could pull that off.”


End file.
